Wellens most recently made headlines when he was rushed to hospital only hours before the Belgian national 'cross championships earlier this month. He spent several days in intensive care with heart and kidney problems, which were said to be due to a virus.
On Thursday morning Het Niueuwsblad reported that Wellens' house and four other locations were searched on Wednesday as part of a doping investigation relating to Luc Van den Broek, who manufactures the CONCAP nutritional supplements.
As for the two-hour search, Wellens told Sportwereld: "This is not fun, but I am right in my shoes. I have no problem with the investigators doing their job.
"I could be holed up here and deny all comments. But I do not. I have nothing to hide, so I talk about it openly.”
He also confirmed that he knows Van den Broeck: “I have used his dietary supplement CONCAP since the middle of the season, and that's legal. It is sold everywhere and many athletes use it. Apparently it fits this research, and is linked to the insinuations after my hospitalization.
"The search was far from pleasant. But I have nothing to fear, so I let them do it,” he continued. “They just took my old computer with them, to check e-mail. Standard apparently, because some computer studies can take days. Later, they will call me for an interview, and I will have no problems."
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Wellens knew that there would be a downside to this, though. "When people hear this, they will naturally think: Hello? A search? Then there must be be something going on. I will have to take a lot of shit.
“That's not funny, absolutely not. I already felt really rotten all day. But I wait with confidence the outcome of the investigation, because I know I have done nothing wrong.”
